Film Archives: a Decaying Visual History

Abstract:

The 20th century saw a movement from the Industrial Revolution to what we could call the Communication Revolution, and perhaps a newer revolution in the past 20 years, which we could characterise as the Information Revolution.
The Communication Revolution began with the discovery of photography (and shortly thereafter cinema) at the end of the 19th century. The Lumière brothers in France, Edward Muybridge in England and Thomas Edison in America all explored the possibilities of moving and still images. Rapid expansion of technology and opportunity saw the rise of revolutionary cinema in Russia and the emergence of Hollywood, the beginnings of an industry that today engulfs our world with images.